This invention relates to a connector with which a mating connector is mateable even if the mating connector is relatively reversed.
As shown in FIG. 18, JP-A 2008-508694 discloses a connector (reversible plug) whose mating connector is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard receptacle. The mating connector includes an electric contact (mating contact) having a protrusion (contact portion). The connector includes a plate spring (contact) and an insulation cap. The plate spring is formed by bending a plate-like member back and includes a first section and a second section. The insulation cap is attached to an end of the plate spring, i.e., a boundary portion between the first section and the second section. The first section continues to a terminal portion which is to be connected to a circuit board (not shown). On the other hand, the second section is not electrically connected with sections other than the first section. Namely, the second section is electrically connected only with the first section.
When the connector of JP-A 2008-508694 is mated with the mating connector, the insulation cap rides over the protrusion (contact portion) of the electrical contact (mating contact) so that any one of the first section and the second section of the plate spring is brought into contact with the protrusion (contact portion).
In the connector of JP-A 2008-508694, the second section is almost same in length as the first section but is not directly connected to the terminal portion. Therefore, various problems might occur upon signal transmission.
For example, the connector of JP-A 2008-508694 is mateable with the mating connector while the mating connector is under a normal state or non-reversed state shown in FIG. 18 or under a reversed state thereof. When the connector of JP-A 2008-508694 is mated with the mating connector under the reversed state, the contact portion of the mating connector is in contact with the second section. Under the contacting state, the second section is connected through the first section to the terminal section. Therefore, an electrical path of a connection between the contact portion of the mating connector and the terminal portion of the connector becomes larger than another electrical path under the normal state shown in FIG. 18. In other words, the connector of JP-A 2008-508694 has a problem that a difference occurs between electrical paths of connections between the contact portion of the mating connector and the terminal portions under the normal state and the reversed state so that signal transmission times for the normal state and the reversed state are different from each other. As described above, if a length of a signal transmission path changes, transmission characteristics for high-speed transmission vary.